Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 18:32:36 -0400
From: LLDEFNY@AOL.COM
Subject: Wisconsin School Can Be Sued for Failure to Protect Against
Anti-Gay Assualts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, July 31, 1996
Contact:
Patricia M. Logue (312) 759-8120
Beatrice Dohrn (212) 995-8985
Peg Byron (212) 995-9475
Federal Appeals Court Rules for Former Student in Anti-Gay Violence Case
Wisconsin School Can Be Sued for Failure to Protect Against Anti-Gay Assaults
Nabozny Ruling Is First Of Its Kind
(CHICAGO, July 31, 1996) In a landmark case that could improve the lives of
lesbians and gay men in the nation's schools, the Seventh Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled today in favor of a young gay man who sued his former Wisconsin
school for failing to protect him from constant, at times brutal, anti-gay
assaults and harassment while he was a student.
The appeal, Nabozny v. Podlesny, was brought by Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund and is the first of its kind to challenge anti-gay violence in
the nation's schools. The decision reversed a lower court's ruling throwing
the case out and remanded it to the federal district court in Madison,
Wisconsin for trial.
Patricia M. Logue, managing attorney for Lambda's Midwest Regional Office,
who argued the appeal, said, "This ruling in favor of Jamie Nabozny is
spectacular news for young lesbians and gay men facing violence and
harassment in their schools. It means the federal constitution requires
schools to offer gay students the same protections and safety given other
students. This may seem obvious, but school officials regularly deny young
lesbians and gay men refuge from violence."
A jubilant Nabozny said: "I hope the thousands of other gay teens forced to
live through this kind of terror will be encouraged by my victory and will
not give up. I feel like someone has finally recognized that it was the
violence that was the problem, not me or my sexual orientation, and I am
deeply grateful."
During his four-year ordeal in Ashland, Wisconsin, middle and high schools,
Nabozny and his parents repeatedly asked the schools to safeguard him from
his attackers, but school officials told them that Nabozny had to learn to
expect such abuse because he is gay. During an assault that resulted in
injuries requiring surgery, 10 students surrounded Nabozny while another
student wearing boots repeatedly kicked him in the stomach. Another time,
students urinated on him, and in another instance, students pushed him to the
floor and acted out a mock rape. Nabozny attempted suicide several times and
ran away to escape the abuse.
"America's heartland is on notice that its schools are responsible for the
security of their gay as well as non-gay students," Logue said. She said the
ruling directly affects courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin and will
be influential nationwide.
David Buckel, Lambda staff attorney and co-counsel in the Nabozny case,
added, "The issue of anti-gay violence against schoolchildren has exploded,
with hearings in states including Kansas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and
Texas."
"This decision sends a message to every school district in the country not to
sweep problems of anti-gay violence under the rug," said Lambda Legal
Director Beatrice Dohrn. "This is a pervasive problem that all schools must
face. Young lesbians and gay men have the right to a safe education," Dohrn
said.
Nabozny, now 20 years old, sued his high school and his case was thrown out
without a trial in the federal district court in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1995.
Lambda represented Nabozny in his appeal of that ruling, argued to a panel
for the Seventh Circuit appeals court on March 28, 1996. The court ruled
that Nabozny could pursue his gender and sexual orientation discrimination
claims under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Unless
the school district petitions the full Seventh Circuit or the U.S. Supreme
Court for review, today's reversal of the district court decision means that
Nabozny now can take his case to trial to establish the school's liability.
A friend-of-the-court brief was filed in support of Nabozny's appeal by the
National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of
Social Workers, the national organization of Parents, Families, and Friends
of Lesbians and Gays, and the Chicago lesbian and gay social services agency
Horizons.
Lambda is the nation's oldest and largest legal organization dedicated to the
civil rights of lesbians, gay men and people with HIV/AIDS. With
headquarters in New York City, Lambda has regional offices in Los Angeles as
well as Chicago and will open an office in Atlanta in 1997.
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